Hey everyone! Stop by and enter to win our $75 TPT Gift card! How awesome would that be? You could stock up on so many terrific products that would help you and your class this month and into next year! Yippee!

It's the end of November! How did that happen? I have been thinking about what fun things I will be doing with my class this year during the month of December. I thought I would share some of the ideas with you since I bet you will be planning too! Most of the ideas are not Christmas-specific since I know some teachers are not allowed to celebrate Christmas in the classroom. I also try to spend a lot of time in December focusing on activities that emphasize generosity and kindness Read on to see what I am looking forward to doing with my class!

1. Secret Snowpal
This is an activity my colleague came up with so I don't have anything formal to share with you, but what I do is have the kids draw names and then send home instructions and write their snowpal's names on it. The students design a special one of a kind card for their snowpal, bring it back to school (sneaking it in by having it wrapped and in a plastic or paper bag for anonymity). Then on a specific day, we exchange them. Students open the cards, read them, and try and guess who gave them a card. It is a lot of fun and really sweet! Here is a brief video of a class who did the same!

2. Collect Toys for Tots
I send home a letter to my students' parents and respectfully request they don't give me a Christmas gift (but they often do anyway, which is always okay) and instead ask they consider picking out a toy for a tot with their child and bring it in.

3. Holiday Party
If your school allows, it is fun to have a holiday party with your class. Mine are usually low key, and I have cookie decorating, Mad Libs and more!

4. Make cards for the elderly
My town has a council for the aging and they love to get birthday cards and get well cards from the kids. I think they also would enjoy getting holiday cards.

5. Send Christmas cards/New Years cards to military serving overseas
In the same vein as the cards for senior citizens, your students could make cards for military personnel serving overseas. You may want to do this one on the first day of December though, to give your cards time to reach them before Christmas.

6. Run a coat/mitten/hat drive
This is great in places that have cold falls and winters. I have heard some schools have mitten trees which they place in the lobby and kids bring in mitten donations. My school has also collected coats, hats, and scarves.

7. Collect food for a local food pantry
We like to get a few volunteers to help bring the food to the local pantry when the drive is over. Otherwise, it can sit around too long.

8. Random Acts of Kindness Challenge
Have students do one random act of kindness a day for each day until Christmas vacation starts. Try searching random acts of kindness on TPT for ideas. You can also brainstorm with your class and download my freebie from TPT to have your students list their ideas. Click here to grab it.

9. Nursing Home Visit
Is there a nursing home nearby? Plan a nursing home visit. Your class could sing songs, read poems and/or put on a short performance. It is amazing the wonderful feelings that would bring during and after for both the nursing home residents and your students! Your class could also collect spare change and, after consulting with the nursing home, buy a small gift for one or two residents who staff knows would not otherwise receive a gift from anyone.

Your class could also create decorations that the nursing home might hang in common areas or give to residents to decorate their personal space!

10. Giving a Class Donation to Charity
Instead of you, the teacher giving each child a Christmas gift, consider donating just $1 per student to a charity. You could also have the class involved in the decision. For example, many of my students love cats and could really be excited about donating to a rescue organization or shelter. This would also be an interesting opportunity to discuss how to "vet" a charity, or evaluate it to make sure it is honest, and if it would be the best place to donate. For example, WWF is a terrific charity that donates huge amounts to important causes. They are transparent about the fact that if you donate, say, $100, $15 will go to fundraising and marketing. For example, you might get a cute stuffed polar bear or calendar but the cost of that comes out of your donations. Students and you could also use websites that review charities to help you make decisions. It could become a lesson in awareness, economics, decision makings, and even business! And the best part, at the end, you and the students have contributed money to a worthy cause.

To celebrate, a few things are going on: First, the bloggers of I Teach K-2 are getting together to share ideas, resources, and bring you a fun giveaway of 5 $25 TPT gift cards! Read on to see how to enter and how to hop to the next blog in line! Second, any of my November themed resources will be on sale at TPT. And I also have a bunch of FREEBIES, by the way- plus if you follow the link up, everyone involved has a freebie for you! Finally, I have a few tips on how you might be able to survive November!

Let's start with some tips for you, the teacher!

TIP #1: Layer

Seriously. No matter where you are, the temperatures probably vary a lot in a 24 hour period. Some of you have air conditioning still on in schools, and if you're like me, you have heat blasting at you all day, sometimes full force, but sometimes, it does not work well and you are freezing in your classroom. So layer up! Short sleeves or long sleeves, sweaters and jackets are your friends, as are scarves to keep your neck warm when it's chilly and then you can ditch them when it heats up.

Tip #2: Take Care of Yourself

Try to get some sleep and stay active outside of school so you can beat germs and stay healthy if possible (sometimes it's just not, right?)!

Tip #3: Consider those Kiddos

For some children, (and let's face it, adults), the holidays are very stressful, and Thanksgiving is the start of an extremely difficult period. Things at home may be challenging, or maybe they fear not being able to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas at all. School might be the stable place they count on, and they face 5 days or more of no school at the end of the month of November and a week to two weeks off in December. It might be tough for some children and they might show anxiety or stress in the classroom. Consider keeping things as normal as you can in November and December, despite the unending possibilities of holiday classroom fun, and thinking about keeping as many of your routines as you can the same to help support them.

Tip #4: Pace Yourself

I mean, it is still early in the year and December looms large. Pace yourself. Set realistic expectations for your and your class. I know at the end of November I have to do report cards, and sometimes I get discouraged until I remember it is still VERY early in the year. Be kind to yourself and your kiddos.

Now, let's talk about what you can use in your room this month. So let me share with you what is available for you and your class, and yes, I have a bunch of freebies! For any item, click on any image to see it at Teachers Pay Teachers.

Click here to get the FREEBIE sample of the Place Value Practice pack and see if it will work for you and your class!

Here's a closer look at the cover:

And here is another FREE product that has compound word practice with a Thanksgiving theme! Thanksgiving Compound Words Practice has a cut and glue activity and a compound word game too!

Next is a turkey themed place value practice pack for your students to practice working with ones, tens, hundreds, place value blocks (base ten blocks) and more to get them comfortable with all things place value!

Have you heard of Bouncy Bands? When I first did I was so excited to add them to my flexible seating classroom and couldn't wait to try out two of them and write a review. I have extremely active students this year. We move a lot anyway using brain breaks like GoNoodle but that is not enough. Sometimes they do need to sit down and get some things done with paper and pencil but still need to move. That's why I thought Bouncy Bands might be great.

If you like video reviews, be sure to keep reading until you see my video review below!

Brain research has shown that movement helps the brain process learning better and as teachers, we all know if students get plenty of opportunities to move, they will be able to concentrate better and maintain focus longer as well as feel better about school. (We don't need research to tell us that!) Hence the well-deserved explosion in the last year of brain breaks, movement breaks and the push in many places to add back recesses and PE classes that have been cut over the years. As teachers we do what we can in our own classroom and during our time with the students and simple things we can build into the structure of our classroom are often the best. That's why something like a Bouncy Band is such a big deal in a small package!

Check out what they look like when they are attached to a desk and a chair!

So I tried one chair Bouncy Band and one desk Bouncy Band. They were very easy to set up and took less than 10 minutes to attach both. The bands are very strong but flexible which I love. They are not going to break or tear for a long time, unlike my exercise band I have at home for myself. Here is one of my little cherubs trying out the chair version.

Now to be honest, I didn't think this child was very active, but when given the opportunity to move with a Bouncy Band, she took advantage and used it for some wiggles and sensory input.

If you prefer video reviews, check out my brief, one minute, video review here with some more footage!

Now, the bouncy band on the desk has stayed on without a hitch. The chair bouncy band I was trying out did come off twice. Students fiddle with everything in my classroom and I think that might be why, but they are so easy to put on the chairs it took me maybe 60 seconds to put it back on the first time (I waited until the kids were at lunch) and the second time the band only came off one leg of the chair and it took me maybe 10 seconds to fix it. Easy peasy! And I love that it gives really good resistance and is made of a firm material. It will not tear or break for a long time, which is important in a classroom with very busy feet!

So to find out even more details, head over to the Bouncy Bands website here. Also, many educators use websites and funding sources like Donor's Choose, GofundMe and Adopt-a-Classroom to get them for their classrooms so I have included some links below for you. These links either include suggestions on how to get your projects funded or send you to the website to get started.

Here are some tips and suggestions on how to get funded by these amazing organizations.

Want to see more? Here is a short introductory video to see how Bouncy Bands work.

And finally, check out these national survey results for how Bouncy Bands impact students. 92% of teachers reported that students enjoy using them. 92% of student said they help them "relax" so they can learn better. 84% of students say Bouncy Bands make it easier to do their work. See the full survey results here.

So do you use Bouncy Bands in your room? Would you consider it? Let us know!

This blog has a disclosure statement. Read it here if you are interested.

We also know that teachers love certain stores and certain stores are really invaluable to teachers. I mean look at how a whole Instagram phenomenon sprung up recently with the hashtag and account TeachersLoveTarget, with quite a few other stores following! I swear teachers made the Target dollar spot so successful! So I got to thinking about what stores we love, rely on, and make our classrooms and our students' experiences just terrific!

1. Target
Well, obviously! There isn't much new I can say about Target, but it has terrific items for teachers, especially in that Dollar Spot!

2. Walmart
Walmart is where I go first to buy classroom supplies. This summer I picked up plastic cups for my supply bins, the supply bins themselves (99 cents each!), crayons, markers, glue, composition books and more! I have also bought stools for the classroom there and I know a lot of teachers have picked up items that will work for flexible seating as well as classroom storage items at Walmart. It also is where I get a lot of my tablecloths that cover up our old tables.

3. Dollar Tree and other dollar stores
Definitely this is the best place for bargain basement prices on classroom supplies. Great for when you need a whole class set of something but don't have $50 or $100 to shell out to get one for everyone.

4. Amazon
I mean Amazon, has everything! Anything you can't get somewhere else, or need fast and can take advantage of their quick shipping, you can get here. My big Amazon purchases include ink for my printer,toner for my at-home copy machine, and laminating sheets for my laminator. It's reliable to shop with them! Plus it's an awesome place to shop for deals on my favorite Flair pens! (clicking on the image will take you to Amazon)

5. Michaels/AC Moore Michaels is my go to place for things like felt, oak tag/colored paper, paint, wood crafts that can be used as projects for my class or gifts to give to their families, and they often have fun items for my prize box. Of course there is a lot of jewelry and jewelry making crafts that I can wear to school, artificial flowers for the classroom, and even though I don't buy them often there, they have a lot of baskets. Finally I have also seen some items specifically tailored for outdoor recess such as jump ropes and those balls on the loop that you swing on your ankle and jump over with your other foot. They weren't too expensive either!

6. JoAnn Fabrics
I remember way back in 2000 going to a JoAnn Fabrics in Florida with a girl who had been teaching for a few more years than I had and she was buying fabric for her bulletin boards. It was the first I had heard of this and definitely not the last! So many teachers buy fabric whether for bulletin boards, covers for crate seats, and pillows! Also a good place for fabric for curtains as well as velcro and other tools to attach things to tricky walls in classrooms.

7. Home Depot
Home Depot, Lowes and Hardware Store are great for tons of supplies. For example, it's where you go when you need to get some wood to make those handy crate seats, or any of these items I have personally picked up there: contact paper (awesome for covering old tabletops and rusty file cabinets), milk crates, light bulbs, and toolboxes (empty, for the desktop teacher tool kits) as well as actual tools to have on hand in the classroom for emergencies.

8. IKEA
I was able to get a bunch of things at an affordable price for my flexible seating classroom, including 6 of their $5 stools. What a bargain. Many teachers buy bookshelves, organizing furniture, etc . from IKEA but I haven't done that yet. The thing is, I can always find something for my home too while I am on the hunt for classroom items at IKEA.

9. Big Lots
Big Lots seems big (no pun intended) for storage containers for classrooms. A lot of teachers seem to get their classroom book bins from Big Lots and I notice teachers even wait each July for the new products to come out and share their thoughts on the color themes. I remember last year some folks did not like the 2015 colors but some folks seemed to like the blue and the neutral blacks and grays from the 2016 collection.

10. Party City and other Party Stores
Need plastic tablecloths for class parties (or to cover bulletin boards and covers for old, gross classroom tables)? Party City has tons of colors to meet your needs. Of course when you are having a party, if you want to get fun cups and plates, they can be a go to, as well as for the Halloween costume you need for the school parade and party!

Bonus store:Hobby Lobby
I have only been in Hobby Lobby once, in another state, since I don't have one near me, but I noticed it was filled with tons of things teachers could use. Lots of things like Michaels and AC Moore but also has decorations you could use for your home and your classroom. I picked up ribbon there and I always keep ribbon and string in my teacher desk. I noticed you can also get teacher supplies like bulletin board letters and stickers as well as really fun things like class packs (12) of a model rocket which you could use in science class. Interesting!